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One of the neighbors is going to start his own business. He going to fit every employee with a state of the art surveillance camera so he can monitor them for proper behavior. He thinks bubble gum is a plaque on civilized society – its under tables in restaurants, under chairs at the theater. Anyone one he sees buying gum will have the same amount deducted from their paychecks. He hates dolls, especially the ones with the black lifeless eyes. He’s not sure, but suspects they’re evil so he’ll be deducting for that. he thinks high heels are provocative, so he will not be paying for those either. he feels badly for men who suffer from impotence so it’ll pay them a little extra if they have to get a prescription for impotence medication. His mom used to get yeast infections all the time so he’ll pay women who have to get treatment a few extra dollars as well. He really hates the south side of town so any employees that live there he is going to take the cost of their rent or mortgage payment out of their check. It is for their own good. he is merely encouraging them to do what is absolutely the right thing to do. These issues and many more are moral issues over which he and his religious council have prayed, discussed and given very deep thought, so one can hardly blame him for basing his pay on deeply held moral convictions, right? Hobby Lobby To Deny Contraception To Employees, Ignoring Court Order. Freedom.

BAMAKO, Mali — Moctar Touré was strapped to a chair, blindfolded, his right hand bound tight to the armrest with a rubber tube. A doctor came and administered a shot. Then Mr. Touré’s own brother wielded a knife, the kind used to slaughter sheep, and methodically carried out the sentence.

Souleymane Traoré had his right hand cut off by Mr. Touré’s brother, a police chief in the Islamist-held north.

“I myself cut off my brother’s hand,” said Aliou Touré, a police chief in the Islamist-held north of this divided nation. “We had no choice but to practice the justice of God.”

Such amputations are designed to shock — residents are often summoned to watch — and even as the world makes plans to recapture northern Mali by force, the Islamists who control it show no qualms about carrying them out.

After the United Nations Security Council authorized a military campaign to retake the region last week, Islamists in Gao, Mr. Touré’s town, cut the hands off two more people accused of being thieves the very next day, a leading local official said, describing it as a brazen response to the United Nations resolution. Then the Islamists, undeterred by the international threats against them, warned reporters that eight others “will soon share the same fate.”

This harsh application of Shariah law, with people accused of being thieves sometimes having their feet amputated as well, has occurred at least 14 times since the Islamist takeover last spring, not including the recent vow of more to come, according to Human Rights Watch and independent observers.

I’m an expert at skimming text. Though I am aware that in issues of importance, contracts, developing a moral philosophy is is best to take in the whole texts, not just the ones about vengeance, say like this one, Quran 18:29, “The truth is from your Lord”: it is the free will of any person to believe (in God) or to be an Infidel (Un believer). Muslims do get a mixed message from the Quran, at one point condemning Jews as jst so much human trash, yet at the same time citing Moses, Aaron, Yusuf (Joseph), David, Solomon, Zachariah, Younis (Jonah) as prophets, but they were all Jews. If one is going to treat religious doctrine as a buffet table – and most religions do – why not choose to emphasize the more virtuous and tolerant aspects.

The authors [of a new study], led by Guodong Gao, claim that the surgery is “a feasible method for alleviating psychological dependence on opiate drugs.” At the same time, they report that more than half of the 60 patients had lasting side effects, including memory problems and loss of motivation. Within five years, 53% had relapsed and were addicted again to opiates, leaving 47% drug free.

Conventional treatment only results in significant recovery in about 30-40% of cases, so the procedure apparently improves on that, but experts do not believe that such a small increase in benefit is worth the tremendous risk the surgery poses. Even the most successful brain surgeries carry risk of infection, disability and death since opening the skull and cutting brain tissue for any reason is both dangerous and unpredictable. And the Chinese researchers report that 21% of the patients they studied experienced memory deficits after the surgery and 18% had “weakened motivation,” including at least one report of lack of sexual desire. The authors claim, however, that “all of these patients reported that their [adverse results] were tolerable.” In addition, 53% of patients had a change in personality, but the authors describe the majority of these changes as “mildness oriented,” presumably meaning that they became more compliant. Around 7%, however, became more impulsive.

So if I understand this correctly they are asking people who had part of their brain removed to give an informed opinion of the benefits of that tissue removal. I was wondering how this works in terms of motivation. Few people are or can afford to be pure hedonists, but being able to feel pleasure – of the kind after you accomplish something like a finished work project, some pleasurable release to look forward to like relations with your partner or playing with your kids – are major life motivators. In at least some of these patients they no longer have that motivation or the ability to feel the reward.